I recently ran a poll of my Facebook Group members about online forms. I asked: When is the last time you provided your email or phone number via lead forms to get a white paper, report, coupon or other asset?

Half of respondents said they’d done so in the last six months. Sixteen per cent had done so in the last month. Only two respondents said it had been more than year since they’d filled out an online form or that they had never done so.

The results of this poll surprised me, but I guess it shouldn’t have. I expected to see a stronger trend against using forms. I think this group, as marketing pros, tends to participate more.

The trend I’m seeing among the general population is that the use of lead forms is on the wan. As a Facebook PRO Partner I run hundreds of ad campaigns for clients targeting consumer audiences, and I can see a clear drop off in lead forms.

That said, there’s a spike in the use of “Messenger” as an effective call to action on Facebook Ads. People want immediate action and response, and a lead form just can’t give them that.

Think about ‘real life’. Would you ever go into a business, fill in a form and leave? Then wait and hope someone will contact you to allow you to make a purchase. No way!

In real life when you visit a business, you expect to see someone and speak to them. Facebook Messenger makes this happen online. Auto responses that make it smart and scalable.

If you are not using Facebook Messenger strategically for your business, you are missing a trick.

This week’s top 5 social media news for marketing and communications professionals! We feature the new Facebook Messenger Unsend. See some how-to info for Instagram Messenger. Get information from Facebook on fighting fake news. Learn about Pinterest’s smarter search. See Ottawa’s effective street signage.

Facebook is rolling out an unsend feature on Messenger, which allows users to retract messages within a ten-minute window.

When users click a message, two options will appear: Remove for Everyone and Remove for you. Choosing the latter will remove the message from the recipient, and leave a note about the removal. Choosing the former will remove the message only from the sender. The recipient can still see the message.

Messenger is becoming increasingly important in digital marcoms. Are you update with its features and functions? – SS

People want to know about Facebook’s efforts to stop the spread of misinformation, prevent election interference, and protect people’s privacy. This past year the social network has invested record amounts in strengthening its defenses against abuse. It’s also giving users more control over their information and more transparency policies, operations and ads. Here’s steps taken in five key areas.

The team at this crucial marketing platform is working to address some serious problems to restore users’ faith. – SS

Pinterest is adding a new feature that lets users search based on skin tone ranges, a handy feature for a service that’s popular with fashion and personal style brands.

Pinterest is a channel that is often overlooked by corporate communications professions. But it’s smarter than many of its competitors. – SS

5.Humour helps ease the pain of city construction

In the effective use of non-digital communications category, congratulations are due to the City of Ottawa for injecting a little humour into the multi-year Elgin Street disruption. (Photos by Stacey Diffin-Lafleur).

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Top Five: Tidal Wave of New Social Media Features

This week's must-know news from the world of social media includes new features and functions from Instagram, Facebook Messenger, LinkedIn and Twitter. Plus end of the road for Klout.

1

Instagram users get mute

May 23, 2018

Instagram has introduced mute in feed, a new way to control what posts users see on Instagram. The new feature lets people hide posts in feed from certain accounts, without unfollowing them. With this change, users can make their feeds even more personalized to what matters to them.

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New reporting tools for Facebook Messenger

May 23, 2018

Facebook has introduced new tools to its app, Messenger, that make it easier for users to report conversations that violate the network’s community standards. Previously, users could report Messenger conversations only through Facebook reporting tools or Messenger web. Now, Facebook says users can report conversations straight through their iOS or Android mobile devices.

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End of the road for Klout

May 23, 2018

Klout, once known as the arbiter of social media influence is shutting down. Klout is shutting down on May 25, which also is the day new privacy regulations, known as General Data Protection Regulations, take effect in Europe. The new data regime in Europe undoubtedly will have an impact on how businesses like Klout and its parent company Lithium Technologies can conduct business.

Facebook users will have seen prompts to download the standalone Facebook Messenger app to their phones since April. Now, resistance is futile.

Mark Zuckerberg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Messages have removed from the Facebook mobile app. People who like to use Facebook to send messages from their phones are now required to download Facebook’s standalone messenger app. This applies to both Android and iOS.

The change underlines the social network’s strategy to monetize the service. On last week’s earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg said the goal was to turn Messenger into ‘an important business’. Facebook says that shift will allow both mobile applications to work more efficiently. Currently, mobile users outnumber Messenger users by five to one.

At the time of the deal it was announced that the two messaging apps would continue to operate as standalone applications. This has not changed as a result the push of messaging users from Facebook’s mobile app to Messenger. The WhatsApp’s brand is continuing to be maintained; its headquarters remain separate from Facebook’s.